Grow your own

Grow your own fruit, vegetables and herbs in your school garden to not only gain delicious food, but learn about plant lifecycles. the food on our plate and the environment. Gardening brings soft skills such as planning, responsibility and teamwork. It also works wonders for wellbeing.

So it’s no wonder we’re seeing a huge interest from schools wanting to grow their own, as they set up gardening clubs or eco-clubs. Let’s get growing!

How do set up and plan?

The good news is, almost any school or youth group can grow their own. A school garden can be within the grounds of the school. In more limited spaces, it can be as simple as a window garden GroBox, some pots or raised beds.

The garden area should be easily accessible for all students. It should have a water supply nearby, which could be a water butt for harvesting rainwater.

Use a soil tester to test the type of soil in your garden space. Check if your chosen area is sunny or shady. Both these factors influence which plants will grow.

You’ll need tools for your garden, as well as watering cans and gardening gloves.

Lay out what will go where and remember hard landscaping such as paths, raised beds, storage and learning areas, as well as the vegetables and fruit you wish to grow. You could even incorporate elements to make it a wildlife friendly garden.

What should I grow?

What you grow depends on the space you have and positioning of your growing space. Seed packs contain details of the growing conditions required.

Consider also adding plants which are attractive to butterflies and bees, such as strawberries, apples, raspberries, peas or courgettes. If you are growing kale, leave some to flower. Bees love kale flowers!

Need to narrow down even further? Simply choose the fruit, vegetables and herbs you know you the students are going to eat.

Science activities based around growing your own

Use the garden as part of GCSE Biology required practicals, such as plant responses or light intensity and photosynthesis.

Observe the plant lifecycle. Discuss how different variables such as sunny/shady, temperature, soil type and nutrition; and water levels have on growth and lifecycle. You could even do this using a propagator such as our plant growth kit.

You can make compost and use this in your garden, as well as take part in some interesting activities themed around compost.

Explore sustainability by encouraging donations of materials for your garden. These could be anything from sleepers to sheds, or pots and chimney stacks to grow in, as well as tools and watering cans to tend to your garden with.

Sharing your produce with Food Technology

The resulting produce can be used to cover Food Technology topics including nutrition and health, food science, food safety, food choice and food provenance at all key stages.

It can be used for the GCSE in Food Preparation and Nutrition too. The Food Investigation assessment requires students to understand the working characteristics, functional and chemical properties of ingredients. The produce can be used in the three dishes required for the Food Preparation assessment.

What other skills can I learn from gardening?

Gardening requires planning, teamwork and responsibility for all the tasks to go from seed to fork.

It can have a positive impact on wellbeing of students, from reducing stress, depression and anxiety to physical exercise. Gardening promotes connections between students and even local community volunteers helping in the garden.

Some students may benefit from the sense of achievement of growing their own fresh produce.

Tell us about your grow your own activities

Share your tips for growing your own and related activities on our Twitter and Facebook pages. Who knows, you could even help another Technician along the way!